11:10 AM,
Jul. 20, 2014

What's left: Debris from an Air Malaysia plane crash lies in a field on July 18 in Grabovka, Ukraine. Getty Images

Written by

David A. Andelman

The first hours following the downing of MH17 have focused on who was responsible for this horrific act of terrorism. But the real question has only barely been addressed. Not so much who shot down the plane -- assigning blame, following the arrival of professional on-scene investigators, should not be that difficult.

Rather the central issue will quickly become what to do about it once that's been determined -- who to punish and how? Does vengeance or retribution descend on someone whose technical competence extends barely past repairing a stalled farm tractor or should we focus on those ...